by C. V. Walter
Molly ignored the gentle hand on her calf. It was kindly meant but the realization of just how badly she'd screwed up had hit her all at once and there was nothing she could do but cry.
Strong arms slid under her legs and behind her back and she found herself lifted and turned so he was sitting under her in the chair while she cried. Her legs relaxed and she found herself turning her face against his chest so she could clutch at his shirt while she let out eighteen years of anxiety and pain.
Mintonar stroked her hair and eventually the tears stopped and she was left with long, shuddering breaths to try and get herself under control. She felt, not exactly better, but like she'd let go of something she'd been carrying for a very long time. Her entire body was sore and drained and she could feel a headache building behind her eyes.
"I am sorry, Maw-lee," he told her. "It was not my intention to trap you here but you are mistaken in the belief that there is only one part of you I have an interest in. I crave your company as well as your touch. I used to be able to lose myself in my work for days but now I find myself counting the minutes until I can see you and introduce you to more of the things I love. You are precious to me in ways I never thought a living creature could be."
She sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand across her nose. "I need a tissue," she said with a chuckle. "You don't have handkerchiefs, do you? And maybe some ibuprofen?"
"Maw-lee, look at me," he said, leaning back.
"No," she said, burying her face against his chest until her hair slid down to hide the rest of it. "I'm ruining your shirt right now and I'm sorry but I'm gross so no."
"Undo the fastenings," he told her.
"You just want me to touch your skin so I get all horny and confused," she accused.
"Have you ever been confused when you were touching me before?" he asked.
"No," she said, trying not to sound sullen. "But you distract me and I don't want to be distracted right now."
"You do not have to touch me, just open the shirt. I promise not to look at you. I have been very good about not touching you just now so it will be a struggle but I will do my best to carry on."
She sniffed again to hide her giggle, slightly embarrassed at the urge to touch his warm flesh with each inch she bared. When it was open, he shrugged it off and shoved it against her face.
"I do not have a handkerchief but I seriously doubt you can ruin the shirt with what's on your face so please, use it for whatever you'd like."
Molly held the shirt against her face and sniffed. His smell invaded her senses and she couldn't help but smile. Rubbing her face against the fabric, she shoulders started shaking and she held it against her mouth while she tried to keep from giving herself away.
"Maw-lee?" he asked, his hand touching gently against her back.
Her shoulders shook harder and he pressed harder against her.
"Maw-lee, I didn't mean-"
She couldn't help it any more. Her hands, filled with his soaked shirt, fell to her lap and she laughed out loud.
"It's not fair," she told him, through the laughter.
"I know it's not, Maw-lee, and I will-"
"I want to hate you," she told him. "I should hate you, honestly, just because all of this is just so fucked up. But I can't."
She sniffed and he stiffened.
"You can't?" he asked.
"Nope," she said, shaking her head. "I can't. Because you're this unbelievably sexy straight man who tries so hard to be dignified and then lets me snot all over his shirt. You're not a jailer or keeping me prisoner, I just have the unbelievably bad luck to be shoved into space and then rescued from certain death by an alien ship full of aliens who don't speak my language and who have technology far beyond anything I've ever experience. I mean, besides the fact that not having everything already translated into a language you'd never heard or experienced before is unbelievably rude, you've all actually been very nice to me. What would have happened if I had told the captain no? If I had refused the Joining during the ceremony I didn't know was taking place?"
"Ah," Mintonar hedged. "Well, he would have assigned you separate rooms and gotten you a female to help you with whatever you needed."
"Would he have let me go home?"
"Maybe?" he said with a shrug. "Probably, honestly, once we could figure out how to do so without endangering the ship."
"And there you have it. Logistics and the cold vastness of space are what are keeping me prisoner here. That and my own stated preference for staying with you. It's just so very ridiculous."
"I don't-"
"I need a shower," she said abruptly. "And some ibuprofen but since that's not in the offing, just some water and some sleep. I have a killer headache, feel like death warmed over and I'm sure I look the same, the use of your shirt notwithstanding."
Mintonar stroked her cheek with his hand and she turned to look up at him. It was still hard to see with the tears swimming in her eyes but he looked sad and concerned. She shivered at his touch but it was a distant thing, as though she wasn't really feeling the spark, just the warmth of his fingers.
"Take your shower, I will bring you something for the pain. And you look beautiful, my Maw-lee, my ahura, my ajoia."
"What's the male version of that? Ajoia means wife, right? What's husband?"
"Ajoien," he told her and she nodded.
"Ajoien. Okay. I'm going to take a shower and get in the bed. It feels like I just got up but I really just want to lay down and sleep for a very long time right now."
She started to pull away and he held her there long enough to bend down and give her a gentle kiss against her lips. His fingers slid up her cheek and brushed against the corner of her eyes, wiping away moisture she hadn't realized was still there.
Her lip trembled and she pressed them together to keep more tears from welling up. He helped her to stand and she handed him the soggy shirt. She hoped her walk to the shower was as dignified as she wanted it to be but she had a feeling she looked slightly like a penguin in his over large pajama bottoms and stiff muscles from sitting curled up as much as she had.
The thought made her want to laugh and she found herself shaking as she started the water and stepped in. She stood under the spray for long minutes, feeling more tears rolling down her face, while she tried to bring herself to the present. It had been a long time since she'd told anybody about what her life during her marriage had been like.
She'd spent years blaming herself for her lack of courage, for giving up on being truly rebellious, and most of the time since the divorce trying to get over it. Aidan told her he understood, that he could see what they were doing, what they had done, and he just wanted her to be happy. He was training in something to do with networks and security, though there was more to it that she could never remember, and he had made a point of keeping in touch with her.
With a laugh, she realized that connecting to the alien ship would look really good on a job application if he could ever find a way to put it on one. He was scary smart and way too cocky for his own good. It was going to get him in trouble someday. As it was, she'd have to ask him the next time he managed to call if he could create a virtual keyboard for her.
The spray from the hot water went from soothing to irritating in the space of a heartbeat and she stepped out before she'd realized what she'd done. She was clean and didn't remember washing but she was tired of being wet and wanted to go to bed.
She stood on the dryer and let it warm her all over but all she really wanted was a towel or a robe to wear. For all her bravado the other day, she thought, sometimes she wanted clothes as armor. She might not care what he thought of her body but right now, being naked felt very much like being vulnerable.
Without a glance around the room, she went straight for the wardrobe and pulled out one of his work shirts. It was big on her, something she'd seen in movies but had never actually experienced, and she wrapped it around herself as soon as she had her arms in the sleeves. Closing her eyes,
she lifted the shirt to her nose and sniffed. It was clean and it smelled clean, no hint of his personal scent on it anywhere.
When she opened her eyes, Mintonar was in the doorway watching her, something metal gleaming from his hand.
"Oh, um, I-"
"I have something for your head," he said, holding the object up. It was an almost flat disk, slightly larger than a quarter, and she saw a second one in the palm of his hand.
"Thank you," she said. "I was thinking I'd just go back to bed."
"This will help," he told her. "Lay down and I'll put them on you."
Blushing, Molly climbed into the bed and under the covers. She'd been caught trying to find a shirt that smelled like him but she wasn't about to take it off. It still felt like him and she didn't know why it mattered but it did.
"What do I have to do for these to work?" she asked.
"Just lay there," he told her. The almost flat part of the disks molded to her head and a cool pulse flowed over her. He stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek and she sighed.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked, sitting next to her on the bed.
"For being emotional and ridiculous. It's...I know better and I'm usually better about keeping myself under control. My only excuse is that I've been under a lot of stress lately and-"
"Maw-lee," he said, stroking her cheek. "There is no need to apologize. You have every reason to be upset right now. I did not realize how much being Joined with me would upset you. It felt like merely a formality, an official recognition, of the fact that I would rather have you, here, with me, more than any other being I've met. And just because you can't leave yet doesn't mean I would keep you here against your will. I hope, when the time comes, that you're willing to stay but I won't force you."
Tears overflowed her eyes and streamed down her temples. "I don't-"
"You don't have to answer now," he said. "Get some rest and you'll feel better."
"Will you hold me?" she asked. "Just until I fall asleep? I know it's probably uncomfortable but-"
Mintonar was under the blankets and reaching for her before she could finish acknowledging just how much she was putting him out. He pulled her into his arms and settled her cheek against his chest before he started stroking her hair.
"I guess it's not an imposition," she murmured.
"Sleep, Maw-lee, we will talk more when you wake."
Chapter 30
Mintonar meant to get back up after Maw-lee had fallen asleep but he found himself so comfortable holding her that he drifted off, as well. It was a strange chime coming from the other room that woke him.
He glanced down to see Maw-lee still cuddled against his chest, streaks from dried tears on her cheeks, and he couldn't help but run his hand down her back. The chime sounded again and she stirred. With an irritated sigh, Mintonar disengaged from her and went to see what was making the noise.
The screen on his table was still up with a message he couldn't read on it and a shaking device pictured between a red and a green circle. Remembering some of the conversations he'd had with Maw-lee about how color worked on her planet, he reached out and touched the green circle.
Aidan's face was back on the screen and he was frowning.
"Where's my mom?" he demanded.
"Sleeping," Mintonar told him. "She is exhausted and I will not wake her. Obviously, since you can contact her through the ships communications system now, you can call her tomorrow."
"Not gonna demand I leave her alone?" Aidan asked. "Declare her your property and tell me to fuck off?"
"Even if she would not object to that kind of declaration in ways I am loathe to contemplate, she values your existence and her connection with you. We might have a problem with logistics getting her to you but I will not be the cause of more pain for your mother than necessary."
"And how much pain do you consider necessary?" Aidan asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Very little, actually, particularly where it concerns my wife."
"Still calling her that? How'd she take that little revelation? And how the fuck did you manage to get her to marry you without her realizing it?"
"Ah," Mintonar said with a smile. "The Joining ceremony in my culture takes place after several feasts, where traditional foods are served, and negotiations between families. The part that makes it official is telling someone with the authority to approve the union that you intend to remain together. I had served her the traditional foods over the course of several days and the captain approved the union after your mother told him she intended to stay. Of course, he issued the approval in my language so she did not understand the import of what she told him."
"Sneaky," Aidan said. "And of course, not binding if she doesn't want it to be."
"I'm not telling her that," Mintonar said.
"Sounds like that's going to be part of the negotiations between the families. Maybe we should start soon. I have a limited window for these calls, though I've managed to keep off the systems that will get me arrested."
"Alright, we'll start with an information exchange. How are you able to interface with our system?"
Aidan smiled. "Well, stepfather, that information is going to cost you more than you think and I still don't think you'll understand. But I'll explain it to someone who will. For a price."
Mintonar sat in his chair and faced his stepson. "Name it."
And with that, negotiations began in earnest.
The chime signaling the start of the day cycle came much too early for Mintonar but he greeted it with more hope and enthusiasm than he'd felt since the ship had left their home planet on what had seemed a mission doomed to fail.
Maw-lee stirred next to him, turning to wrap her arms around him and throw her leg over his hip. She stretched against him, pressing her hips and belly against him as she did so, and opened sleepy eyes to grin at him.
"Good morning, lover," she purred, her early morning voice a husky whisper he could not help but enjoy.
"Good morning, ahura," he replied and bent his head to steal a kiss. She moaned against him and he deepened the kiss, pulling her hard against him, until the only thing between them was the thin fabric of his shirt on her body. His hand on her waist smoothed over her ass and under her leg, pulling it higher around his waist and opening her to his cock which rubbed against her damp folds.
She wiggled her hips against him and he groaned, loving the feel of her wet pussy against his cock. With a sigh, she tilted her hips until his tip was kissing her opening and he pushed inside her hot, tight channel until there was no space left between them.
They were both breathing hard when he started to move, just small thrusts of his hips that rubbed him against all her favorite parts, until her body seized with a gentle orgasm that had her shuddering in his arms and against his lips.
"Again," he told her. "Do that again."
"Yes," she said on a breathy sigh and relaxed into the sensations he was building in her body, her next orgasm already not more than a breath away.
He pushed her over again and again, each time the pleasure and sensations building higher and higher, until she was screaming his name as he pounded into her, both of them craving the sweet release that was hovering just on the edge of their bodies. Her pussy gripped him hard and her fingernails created tracks down his back as he buried himself deep inside her and let loose a flood of his seed. His mind was blank for long moments afterward along with the deep hope that it would take root, even though he knew it was impossible.
Maw-lee cleared her throat and he squeezed her tight, kissing the top of her head when her channel squeezed around his cock.
"Well, that was a very pleasant way to say 'good morning'," she said, kissing his chest. "We can do that more often if you want to."
"I plan to," he told her. She licked his chest and he smiled into her hair.
"No better way to start the day," she said. "Though, um, I should probably let you take a shower and g
et dressed. I know you're busy today."
"As are you," he said, leaning back to look at her face. "You're getting your translator today and Alvola is going to need your help setting up everything so we can communicate with your planet."
"Yeah?" she asked, excited. "Wait, who are you trying to communicate with? Cause, if it's the politicians, I'd recommend against it. Most of them are idiots."
Mintonar laughed and shifted his hips which made both of them groan. "Right now, I believe it would be best to speak to some of your scientists. Humans who are more interested in looking at our shiny technology and not blowing us up because we're strange."
Maw-lee re-positioned her leg around his waist and he felt himself growing hard inside her again. "To be fair, a lot of them are idiots, too," she said, shifting her hips. "But I can give you a few names to talk to."
"I have a list," Mintonar told her, his hand gripping her ass. "Which is good because I think we're going to be betting a late start this morning."
Still buried deep inside her, he rolled her onto her back and proceeded to make their start very late indeed.
She was sitting in his office, visibly vibrating with excitement, while he got her translator prepped for insertion. Damina, one of the nurses, was helping him.
"She's wearing your clothes," she told him.
"It's fine," Mintonar told her. "She looks cute."
"She does but she needs her own clothes," she said. "If only because she's not going to want to hear what everybody else is going to have to say about her walking around looking like she's just come from your bed."
Mintonar frowned. "She doesn't look like that," he said.
Damina raised an eyebrow at him and rubbed at the small stubs females had instead of the short horns of the males. "By our standards, she does. With hair that long, it's going to be hard not to. Especially when she's wearing a shirt that's far too big for her and was obviously made for a male. The assumption is going to be that she rolled out of bed, put on your clothes, then went for a stroll."
He frowned harder.
"Don't tell me that's exactly what happened?" she asked. She laughed at Mintonar's expression. "Doc, you're going to give that girl a reputation before anybody meets her. I bet you don't have any grooming equipment for her, either."
